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T O P I C R E V I E W
Jason
Posted - 09/25/2005 : 08:38:04 He gives 'Live at the Burton Cummings Theater' a 7. If you don't like the review, by all means, click on the link and mail Mark a nasty comment. He posts everything he receives to the site. You will be heard!
Burton Cummings has changed so many lives. For example, he brought The Guess Who fame and fortune in their home town of Winnepeg, Canada, as well as around the world, with such hits as "America's Women" and "No Mother Tonight/New Natural Sugar," all of which brought he, Randy Bachman, and the other members, of the band, fame, and fortune worldround. But tonight he's done something even more special. He's brought us the most hilariously inept Pixies concert anybody thought they'd ever hear.
For you see, when Burton Cummings of "Stand Tall" fame opened his Burton Cummings of "Stand Tall" fame Theatre in downtown Canada, he knew that Frank Black, Joey Santiago, Kim Deal and the other guy would love to get together for a reunion tour. And they did! And not only did they do just that in 2004, but they signed a deal with Disc Live Records to record every single show of the tour (or some of them, at least) and sell copies to a specially-chosen 1000 fans who had 25 extra dollars burning a hole in their fire-operated wallets. So theoretically, there are probably about 20 different live CDs floating around out there from this tour. But this is the only one I have, and man - it STINKS! Luckily, the Pixies have so many great songs, even when they stink they sound good.
I personally saw The Pixies on their Trompe Le Monde tour and thought to myself, "Hey, they're playing nearly every track off their new album, Kim Deal looks bored, and they're not doing anything. Also, Pere Ubu opened and didn't play a single good song. Why didn't I just stay at home in my dorm room studying Female Anatomy with a minor in Alcohol Poisoning?" But here tonight, on April 4, 2004, Frank Black has ballooned to a bald 650 pound man, and Kim Deal is so high on cocaine, she can't even throw up straight!
Okay, I made that up. But hey - that's why those in the legal profession refer to markprindle.com as "The Libel Bible"! Also, I saw Pete Townshend slam a little kid's head into a tree and shove his credit card up h
This particular reunion show featured three non-LP tracks, four Come On Pilgrims, 6 Surfer Rosas (not counting the ones like "Vamos" that were also on COP), eight Doolittles, and a disappointing mere TWO Bossanovas and Trompe Le Mondes. Disc Live did an amazing job capturing the crystal clear sound of the instruments and vocals (except for some excruciating cymbal hiss in the first song), and the band was chockfull of good spirit and energy on this night, but my good GOODness had they not practiced enough beforehand! Kim's backup/harmony vocals are as 'slightly but distractingly off-key' as Brix Smith on her worst nights, and quite a few songs feature horrid moments of amateurish shittery (an ear-torturous guitar/bass mixup in the middle of "Crackity Jones," several incorrect bass notes in the first verse of the THREE-NOTE "Gouge Away," Kim's inability to play her instrument in a natural-sounding manner during her own song "Gigantic," and a complete travesty of sloppy notes, botched chords and unlistenable feedback that they try to pass off as "Head On"). It was still probably a fun night though, and Kim even admitted that they weren't playing terribly well, with her encore comments "We fixed all you guys' (Disc Live) CDs, so they're perfect now! We did some overdubs." and "Thanks for coming out for the warm-up show!" Good old women and their jokes. Not that Kim's an "old woman," necessarily. I've heard tell there might be a penis down there.
Still, even with all these mistakes and with some song choices I personally wouldn't have made ("Winterlong"? "In Heaven"? "Into The White"? The SLOW version of "Wave Of Mutilation"? And again, only TWO songs from their most interesting record?), their finest performances remind me yet again of why love for the Pixies has continued to be passed down from generation to generation to the point that I'm pretty sure they're more popular now than they were when they were originally together. They just had so many great songs! 14 of these 25 tracks are compositionally awe-inspiring and actually performed correctly. Four of them are even really short, really fast and performed one after the other in exciting hardcore procession! So whether you're into the Pixies for their Doolittle pop hook angelica or their Surfer Rosa speed rockica, Burton Cummings Theatre is the Disc Live concert recording for you!
(as long as you're not into the Pixies for their Trompe Le Monde best materialica or their Bossanova bothering to rehearse each song at least one time before hitting the stageica).
So how about you? Did YOU catch the Pixies on their whirlwind reunion tour? If so, how was it? Did Frank Black consume the entire first row during "Gigantic"? Was Kim snorting lines right off of Santiago's dick? Come on, send in a reader comment! The sicker the better! Give it some tits and smear 'em in blood!